The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-13
THE SOUTH POLE.
What is Known of Those Re-
giOns. :
WORK OF FAMOUS y0YAGERs
Reasons why the south Polo Has At
tracted So Few Expeditions,
Compared With the North.

It must be admitted that the South
Pole has been left pretty much to freez'
unnoticed in the midst of its native colo
compared with the incessant attention
which for more than 300 years has beer
bestowed upon its northern rival. AND
this is not difficult to account for. The
Antarctic regions lead to nowhere. Nc
northwest or northeast passage te
Cathay and the riches of India has
ever here claimed urgent solution
Until the peopling of Australia with the
restless activity of European event of
yesterday-the South Pole had only
savages for its nearest neighbors, and
the nearest of these some thousands OF
miles away. No great continents spread
their fringes far over its icy borders
no human being, so far as we KIN
struggles to find "a home among
its ice-bound seas and islands. From
the North Pole as q centre, on the other
hand, stretch outwards the great his
toric lands of the world; and the habi.
tations of men approach it to wi thin a
few hundred miles. No wonder, then,
| that the one has attracted scores of eL-
petitions, while the attempts to explore
| the other could be coUnted on ones
| fingers.
If we look at the North and South
Polar maps in Stieler's Atlas, it will be
seen that the former within the sixtieth
parallel is crowded with land, while in
the corresponding area of the latter
| there are only a few insignificant
patches amid a world of ice and alter.
That lands of great extent do lie be-
tween 70 degrees and the South Pole is
generally believed among geographers i,
but this belief is only founded on con
lecture. The enormous blocks of ice
quite unlike the irregular Arctic bergs-
that come floating northWards could
only, 1t is thought, be formed ON a great
area of land. At the same time the
Great Southern Continent" which
attracted the earlier adventures
toward the Antarctic, and in the maps
of the last century spread its arms far
north into the Pacific, has long ago
been proved a myth.
ALTHOUGH VARIOUS ATTEMPTS
were made in the seventeenth century
to penetrate southwards, the first who
crossed the Antarctic circle was Cook.
when, in about 80 degrees 80 minutes
east longitude, he reached as far south
as 81 degrees Is minutes. Next year
he sailed along the whole southern
aspect of the Pacific, and as far south
as II degrees 10 minutes, but met with
nothing there in the shape of a
southern continent" Most of the
work of exploring the South Polar re-
gion has, however, been accomplished
during the present century.
Early in this century, the Ameri-
can whale fishers discovered the South
Orkneys and Palmer's Land which
lie just on the Antarctic circle, to the
south of Cape Horn. In 1922 tine
great Russian navigator, Bellingshau-
sen, considerably extended our scanty
knowledge of this ice-covered region.
Not far from the meridian of Green
wich, he penetrated southwards to SO
degrees % minutes, when the immense
masses of ice compelled him to turn.
Ninety-two degrees farther west he got
as far south as SO degrees 80 minutes,
and was still met by ice-bound
seas. On the same day. however,
January %, 1821-in 90 degrees 46 min
utes west longitude and So degrees
q minutes south latitude, his persever-
ance was rewarded by the discovery of
an island 1900 feet high, which be
named after Peter the Great; and a
week later, almost directly south from
south latitude. he saw land of great
ha;1hf mhinh aooTrood n hiv,, 70
cape belonging to a great continent,
and which he named Alexander Land.
The land was completely locked in ice,
and in the sea itself there was no sign
of life.
In 1924 Captain Weddell, in swo
tiny vessels, succeeded In bringing home
a great mass of valuable information on
the meterology, the ocean currents and
the magnetism of these regions, and
was able to penetrate farther south
than any former explorer. reaching "a
degrees Is minutes (about one thousand
miles from the pole) in 80 degrees 20
minutes west longitude. Here he
found the sea free from ice, and ex-
pressed the belief that 1t would be an
easy matter to approach much nearer
to the pole. In 1881 Captain Biscoe |
found Enderby Land, just on the polar |
circle in so degrees east, and next year
Adelaide Land. evidently a continual
ton westward of Palmer's Land, al |
ready known, and Graham's Land, sub.
sequently discovered, south from
THE SOUTHERN POINT OF AMERICA.
Next year. to the east of Enderby Land. |
Kemp discovered the patch to which |
his name is attached. In 1889 Bal
leny cruised about In the neighborhood
of the Antarctic circle to the |
south of New Zealand and Australia, |
few patches on the circle
one of which, il lis degrees 30 minutes.
is known as Sabrina Land.
About the time that Balleny was pur-